“That your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:5 (NKJV)

The greatest miracle in the history of mankind is the birth of the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in which we perceive the power of God.  Human wisdom is inadequate to fully comprehend the power of God because it is limited in its aptitude.

The world, in its attempt to explicate the mystery of the birth of Jesus solely through human wisdom, empties His Birth of its power of divine mystery. The descent of the Son of God from heaven to earth can only be perceived and understood through faith, for it led humanity to light and life.

Christ is born and revealed!

Blessed is the Revelation of Christ!

The birth of Jesus is the revelation of God, a mystery that we anticipate in faith, and in His birth we perceive the new birth of our life.

Indeed, for more than two thousand years the life of mankind has been enlightened and transformed through the birth of Jesus. Science continually recorded new triumphs, humanity established stations in the cosmic universe, the world is now condensed in a computer, and yet the birth of Jesus always weighed more heavily and conveyed eternity, because in it humanity perceived the birth of Jesus and what is yet to come, while scientific achievements became only the new steps to ascend to God.

Therefore, look at the birth of Jesus from the perspective of faith, and do not try to explain divine power through human wisdom because it is greater than all human power.

The birth of Jesus is heaven opened before mankind which unites us to God so that we may turn our lives into a reflection of His light. It is not in vain that church fathers see the birth of Jesus as the mystery of peace. The world must renew itself in the birth of Jesus. His birth is the divine miracle in the life of the world. And the person who is connected to His birth truly transforms his/her soul, and even more, he/she permeates his/her life with such vitality that we are able to see in the person the blossoming of the birth of Jesus.

At the end of each year divine blessing awaits us when our spiritual life feels the need of divine energy to rebuild in our spiritual essence the person in the image of God. The birth of Jesus is truly the call to prudence so that we may live our life imitating the life of our Lord, freeing our spiritual essence from all undesirable symptoms of the transient life, from adverse habits and adornments that suffocate within us the birth of the new person, the humble and benevolent individual who strives for peace. If we do not look at the birth of Jesus in faith, and if we do not penetrate its essence driven by divine power, then we will be much distanced from God, and the virtuous tendency in us to become co-creators with God will be suppressed within us.

My fellow Christian, enter into the depths of your soul in prayer because it is only in the humility of your heart that you can welcome the Son of God. The Son of God being born in the manger, nurtured in the love of a Pure Mother, made His life an invitation to a life of humility, the path to God for all.

The birth of Jesus is indeed a path opened before man that leads to God. In the great family of nations our Holy Church has been the gate on the path to God. Many generations enduringly renewed their lives in the wondrous birth of our Lord and dedicated their lives to Him. They understood best that to live life with Jesus means to live the spiritual and moral life and to uphold its value as a gift from God. Our ancestors, attentive to the light of the presence of God, discovered within themselves supreme mysteries and visions that formed sacred values in the inner-being of the Armenian Christians. The perpetuity of our nation, our faith and culture, and even more, respect toward global human values, peace, and the spirit of justice and brotherhood among nations is warranted by these values. The birth of our Lord Jesus reinforces in our spiritual being the divine so that the path of our life may be smooth. Humanity urgently needs to nurture its mind and soul with the word of God, with the tenets of the Gospel of Christ. The world of yesterday and today, in its history also recorded sad events caused primarily by the absence of God in man.

Christ is born and revealed!

Blessed is the Revelation of Christ!

To celebrate the birth of Christ means to make life a journey with Christ. Those who take that journey find within themselves the true life and bring light to the mankind. The great men of history are those who stayed on course in their journey with Christ. The saints lived a life imitating the life of Christ and thus became the fervor in the veins of the Church.

We are at the threshold of 2013 and God will grant us a new gift of 365 days. As individuals we will uphold the value to the gift and moreover, as a community we will uphold the value of the divine gifts. Man is capable of accomplishing so much! Nevertheless, the greatest moral victory of man remains the vision to building the spiritual that will be expressed tangibly in the character of the individual, the family structure, the community. It is with awareness of this that we declared 2013 the Year of the Armenian Family in our diocese. Therefore, in all aspects of our life let us make the Armenian family the focus of our prayers and thoughts. The stronger the Armenian family is in faith and moral values, the stronger will be the Armenian Church. And the stronger the Armenian Church is the better she will be able to accomplish her God-pleasing sacred mission, beginning from the nurture of the child in faith to the most modest services that keep the big family of the Church secure and in unity.

The birth of Christ is the miracle in the spiritual life of mankind that leads us to the truth. The one, who bends his knees before the Infant Jesus at the manger, will certainly discover in oneself a new zeal for life, to overcome one’s shortcomings and to give birth to courage within oneself.

The birth of Christ is the good news of a new life that no doubt we were all waiting for. Therefore, let us open our hearts so the Infant Jesus may be born in us. It is not with outward adornments that we will be enriched but our hearts, adorned with the birth of Jesus brings to us the priceless treasure, the true happiness, so much more that the temporal and material treasures.

Christ is born and revealed!

Blessed is the Revelation of Christ!

Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate

Feast of the Holy Nativity – January 6, 2013